20 Things a Woman Should Do Before Getting Married

Just about there....

1. Live by herself for at least a year.
2. Live with someone else for at least a year.
3. Recover from a broken heart.
4. Have a vacation fling.
5. Take a road-trip with a group of girlfriends.
6. Relish sleeping in a queen-sized bed by herself.
7. Get her finances in order.
8. Learn to love her body.
9. Have sex with at least one person she’d never want to marry (or introduce to mom).
10. Find reliable birth control.
11. Pay off as much credit card debt and student loans as possible.
12. Spend way too much on a something frivolous.
13. Exorcise all past relationship demons.
14. Travel somewhere exotic.
15. Establish a strong circle of friends.
16. Forgive her parents for not being perfect.
17. Have at least one night she can’t quite remember.
18. Experience some really bad first dates.
19. Find hobbies that fulfill her.
20. Celebrate her 25th birthday.

4th of July

My sister’s engaged. I haven’t had too much time to spend in getting to know Keith, but the time I have had, I have been impressed. Keith and Emily have a 9 week old daughter now and I spent the long Independence Day weekend at my parents house with them and a bunch of friends. Keith showed himself to have endless amounts of patience and adoration with both Riley (the 9 week old) and my sister’s older daughter, Gwen. He’s caring and firm, and I cannot imagine a better father for the two little girls, or a better husband for my sister. I’m just so happy for the four of them.

The weekend otherwise was amazing – sunny and warm (the way I like it), with family and friends in abundance. I’m so lucky to have parents that not only are OK with me bringing gaggles of friends to their house for 3 days, but that enjoy it! I loved having the time with them cooking dinner, playing on the boats, and refilling that cavity in your soul that only time with your family can fill. I love that they got to meet those friends that are close to me, and I’m happy that my friends got a peek at the people that made me who I am.

This is the type of relaxing weekend that just makes me feel so fortunate to have all the people in my life. Many pictures were taken over the weekend…. I’ll add some as soon as the photographers decide to let me see the pictures. (HINT, HINT, my lovely photographer friends that joined me in VA).

Next up? Sonoma with some Virginia friends this weekend, then a self-made bike tour of the Long Island wineries the weekend after, and perhaps a beach day or Six Flags day the following weekend. I have a full few weekends coming up!

From Literally, Genevieve Clare...

This is so completely me....

Wherein we stumble upon a movie set in Washington Square Park...

• Me: Hey, can we stop and watch??
• Boyfriend: Oh that's nice of you to pretend that I have an option.
• Me: [Getting giddy and jumping up and down a little bit] What do you think it is?
• Bystander #1: Harrison Ford is in town filming a movie. Maybe it's that.
• Bystander #2: Gossip Girl has been filming downtown all day.
• Me: [surveying the scene] Oh my God.
• Boyfriend: What!?
• Me: OH MY GOD!!!!!
• Bystanders #1 and #2: What? Who is it??
• Me: That is Adam Sevani.
• Boyfriend: Who is that??
• Me: THEY ARE FILMING MOTHEREFFING STEP UP 3!!!
• [Bystanders #1 and #2 leave immediately.]
• Me: Babe, I'll die if they do a dance sequence. I will fall on the pavement and DIE. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
• Boyfriend: Oh sweet Jesus.

4th of July with my kitties!

I'm so very excited! My favorite holiday, and I'll be spending it with great family and friends playing down at my parents house.

My kittens are coming with me this time... I'm curious how they will deal with the trip. 7 hours in a car... Any suggestions?!

Amassing a Navy or Learning to Sail

I called my Dad today to whine about having to get knee injections (still trying to heal the destroyed knee), and he cheered me up telling me he is "amassing a small navy"... buying another boat.
The new boat is a sail boat, though, not a power boat! So now I get to learn to sail this summer! How exciting is that?! I think I'm heading there for July 4 weekend to lay on the boats, waterski, learn to sail, and watch fireworks from the water. Yay!!!

If you're thinking about birthday presents...

If presents for my birthday have been on your mind, might I suggest the following if you can find it:

Cameras and Shoes

I have a handful of new pairs of shoes of which I'd like to take a picture.
I'm still in the process of figuring out how many new shoes it takes to make a heart stop hurting... And I think documenting the process would be a helpful reminder of how many to start with next time.

Do you realize how much a picture of the newbies would make this post oh-so-much prettier!?

I really need a digital camera to manage this. The phone just isn't cutting it these days... Any suggestions?